Doomsday Device

Doomsday Device

Doomsday Device, often shortened to Device, is a term used in wrestling to reference a tandem move in which one wrestler hoists the opponent on their shoulders so that they are facing in the same direction in what is known as the electric chair position, while another wrestler climbs the ring post to the top turnbuckle and delivers a flying attack on that prone opponent. It is also known as the Double Impact, especially in puroresu.

The Doomsday Device name comes from a popular wrestling tag team known as the Road Warriors, who innovated the basic version of this move in which a flying Clothesline is hit on the opponent who is being set up in the electric chair position; knocking the opponent off the shoulders of the grounded wrestler, who pushes up on the opponent's legs to flip them backwards as they fall to the mat. The Destruction Crew would use it years later, calling it the Wrecking Ball.

A slight adaptation of the standard device, best known as the Dudley Boyz's Dudleyville Device, sees the wrestler (in this case Bubba Ray Dudley) keep hold of the opponent's legs, falling backwards with them and completing a traditional electric chair drop maneuver.

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Variations

Other variations of the maneuver, which use alternative flying attacks to knock opponents backwards off the shoulders of another wrestler are often named after the Doomsday Device, or are described using the Device term.

Most frontal attack variats can see the grounded wrestler simply release, or, fall backwards with the opponent, as in the basic Doomsday Device.

However, not all variations of the Device see the elevated wrestler attack an opponent head on, some see wrestlers strike from behind to propel the opponent forward off the other wrestler's shoulders. This allows the grounded wrestler to utilize a version of the electric chair which sees them drop to a seated position with the opponent landing face first between the wrestler's legs.

Doomsday Clothesline

This variation is the one that is usually used when tag teams perform the Doomsday Device. This variation has one wrestler lift one opponent up in an electric chair position followed by another wrestler climbing to the top rope and performing a flying clothesline onto the elevated opponent, making the opponent fall backwards off the wrestler's shoulder making them crash into the mat.

Doomsday Asesino

This variation utilized in the CHIKARA promotion by the team of El Hijo Del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Jr, Los Ice Creams sees an asesino, or a flying hip attack performed onto an elevated opponent, causing them to fall backwards off the wrestler's shoulders to the mat.

Doomsday Busaiku Knee Kick

This variation, innovated by KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji sees one wrestler lift up their opponent in regular Doomsday fashion and another wrestler climb to the top rope and perform an elevatedBusaiku Knee Kick on their opponent to knock them down. They call it the Avalanche Busaiku Knee Kick.

Doomsday Rana

Unlike the previous variation, this Device variant sees a head scissors throw used to pull the opponent forward off the shoulders of the other wrestler. The flying head scissors throw performed is commonly known as a diving hurricanrana, and is where this move gets the "Rana" part of its name.

Elevated cutter

Another variation exists which is the same doomsday style attack but rather than a bulldog or a clothesline, the attacking wrestler performs a Cutter off of the elevated surface (usually the turnbuckle) pulling the opponent face first off the partners shoulders. This move is most notably used by TNA tag team LAX who call it the 5150.

Elevated diving bulldog

This variation sees the elevated wrestler come from behind the raised opponent to push/drag them forward off the grounded wrestler's shoulders and down to the ground using a diving bulldog.

Shining Impact

Another flying kick variation of the Doomsday Device, popularized by the team of Bob Sapp and Keiji Mutoh. This variant sees a wrestler perform a diving variation of the Shining Wizard attack; a move invented by Keiji Mutoh, to knock the opponent from the shoulders of another wrestler.